Georgia Tech Awards Project to Harper International

Harper International announced it has been awarded a project by the Georgia Institute of Technology for the production of a university-scale carbon fiber (CF) thermal processing system. Georgia Tech has been provided Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funding in the area of carbon fibers and partnered with Harper to develop a customized process system for its research purposes.

Georgia Tech required an especially distinctive configuration in the line to accommodate fractional tow sizes in the range of less than 100 filaments. This condition pushes the boundaries for typical carbon fiber processing, as traditional commercial CF lines handle tow sizes of 3K, and rarely down to 1K. Harper’s design team created a proprietary solution to this challenge, enabling researchers to achieve their goals of processing material more quickly and using less expensive additives.

“Harper’s thermal processing systems will be used in our advanced materials research at Georgia Tech,” said Satish Kumar, Ph.D., professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering. “Solving tough problems with real-world solutions is part of what we do at Tech. We are always interested in finding creative, technologically-focused partners to assist with our research.”

Carbon fibers, including those containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs), are a prime area of focus in advanced materials research due to their increased strength, flexibility, and unique electrical properties. CNTs can be used in applications across almost all fields of science, engineering, and technology, and help expand the realm of nanotechnology through their use in the control of other nanoscale structures.